Accessibility Features and Help

The U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) is committed to maintaining a fully accessible Web site, compliant with Section 508 standards and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) for Priority Levels 1, 2 and 3.

What is Web Accessibility?

An accessible Web site is one that is usable by all people, without regard to the way in which the user accesses the site. This goes beyond the realm of disability alone: an accessible Web site is usable by any browser, by any technology, and by any user. In terms of accessibility to persons with disabilities, this means the Web site must be accessible to all people, and much more than vision disabilities must be considered.

Accessible Design Features

Color and Contrast

We have tried to use combinations of colors that provide sufficient contrast between foreground and background across the sites. If any color poses a problem, please let us know.

To change foreground and background colors on the Web page:

Keyboard Commands

The information in the charts below will help you navigate through our Web pages without a mouse.

Caution: Some selections may not work with every Internet browser. For example, if you use Netscape 4.08, we know you can't use the arrow key to select radio buttons.

IF you want to... THEN select...
Move forward from link to link or to controls Tab
Move backward from link to link or to controls Shift + Tab
Select buttons Space Bar
Navigate and select Radio Buttons Arrow
Select/deselect boxes Spacebar
Move from box to box Tab
Open a List Box ALT + Down arrow
Read the prior screen CTRL + Page Up
Read the next screen CTRL + Page Down
Go to the top of the page CTRL + Home
Go to the bottom of the page CTRL + End
Close the current window (in Internet Explorer) CTRL + W
Refresh the screen F5
Go back a page ALT + Left Arrow
Go forward a page ALT + Right Arrow
Navigate to & select the text in the address combo box ALT + D

Accessibility of Adobe PDF Files

Adobe provides online conversion tools to help visually disabled users read PDF documents. They convert PDF documents into either HTML or ASCII text, which can then be read by a number of common screen reader programs.

Visit http://access.adobe.com/ for more information on how to make .pdf files more accessible to people with disabilities.

If you are unable to access information contained in a PDF file, please e-mail usfa-webmaster@dhs.gov. The Webmaster will refer your request to a USFA staff person who will promptly respond to you and provide an alternate format of the requested material.

How to Request Alternate Formats

If you have a disability and the format of any material interferes with your ability to access information contained on our Web site, please e-mail usfa-webmaster@dhs.gov. The Webmaster will refer your request to a USFA staff person who will promptly respond to you and provide an alternate format of the requested material.

To enable us to respond in a manner that will be of most help to you, please indicate:

Accessibility Feedback

We are always interested in getting feedback on our Web site. If you have any comments or suggestions please send them to usfa-webmaster@dhs.gov.

Additional Resources for Accessible Web Site Design